Crypto firm launches coin as ‘International CBDC’
A Washington, DC-based company has launched a new digital currency overseen by the Commodities Futures and Trade Commission.
Unicoin, launched earlier this month by the Digital Currency Monetary Authority (DCMA), is designed to be one “international central bank digital currency” (CBDC) able to support instant cross-border payments.
DCMA Executive Director Darrell Hubbard said Unicoin was designed to be “the best of both worlds”, provides benefits of cryptocurrencies and CBDCs.
“As a crypto-asset, Unicoin adopts monetary policies to ensure that it maintains its store of value stronger than any fiat currency, while also complying with banking regulations to strengthen monetary sovereignty.” Hubbard said.
He argued that central banks “do not fully understand the drivers behind cryptocurrency adoption and have missed the mark on their research, development and launch of CBDC projects.” Investors in cryptoassets are seeing CBDCs “more like a souvenir” than an innovation, he added.
In a white paper discussing the new cryptocurrency, Hubbard also claimed that traditional banks “may soon become obsolete” if they do not embrace innovation and disruption.
The announcement comes as US regulators and policymakers continue to debate how to bring digital currencies and other crypto assets under regulatory oversight.
Last week, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion held a hearing on a draft bill introducing a regulatory framework for stablecoins, which are pegged to the value of other assets such as the US dollar.
In a statement to the subcommittee, the American Bankers Association supported many of the framework’s features, but expressed “significant concern” on opening the payment system for unregulated non-bank entities.
The association said: “Federal Reserve does not appear to have discretion to reject these eligible government payment stablecoin issuers from registration [which] introduces an unacceptable level of risk to the financial system.”
Separately, New York’s Department of Financial Services has expanded its digital currency regulation to give it a way to assess how much licensed companies will be charged for regulation.
The government’s regulatory framework is based on banking supervision rules and requires licensed companies to comply with minimum capitalization standards, cyber security regulations and anti-money laundering rules.
